THE EVOLUTION OF MOBILE RECRUITMENT. What It Is, Why It Matters and Where To Start BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Transcription

1 THE EVOLUTION OF MOBILE RECRUITMENT What It Is, Why It Matters and Where To Start BROUGHT TO YOU BY

2 ABOUT THIS EBOOK Reality television, social media, , the Internet, the computer what do these things have in common? These are just a few of the technologies that people originally wrote off as trends, passing fads that would never last. CONTENTS 1 About this ebook Mobile Recruitment 101 Go Mobile Or Get Left Behind Reaping the Benefits of Mobile Go Mobile, Get Social: Mobile as Social Strategy So You Wanna Go Mobile: Mobile Recruitment Opportunities and How to Utilize Them Call Waiting: A Disclaimer about Mobile Recruiting Leading the Mobile Revolution About CareerBuilder Sources Clearly, people were wrong. Now the same is being said of mobile technologies, but the simple fact is that mobile is one of the fastest growing technologies today, and it is already showing signs of it s use as a powerful recruitment tool. This e-book is for any recruiter, hiring manager or employer who understands......the importance of keeping up job seeker trends in order to stay competitive...that the direction of recruitment is expanding in ways we didn t think possible five years ago...and that new possibilities for reaching job seekers are expanding by the minute. We re entering a phase in social application and network development that doesn t just treat the mobile web as a consideration, but as a central tenant and requirement. Christina Warren A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in Mobile, Mashable, July 27,

3 MOBILE RECRUITMENT 101 Let s face it: Technology is changing the way we all communicate at all levels. Our target audience has become increasingly mobile and no longer simply sitting at a desk waiting for our call or . Jim Stroud The Recruiters Lounge, April 6, 2009 In the simplest of terms, mobile recruiting is the ability to market to prospective talent with or on a mobile device. On a deeper level, mobile recruiting is also: About keeping up with new and emerging recruitment trends The most effective way to connect with job seekers anywhere at anytime Not just a trend Increasingly important for companies that want to stay competitive both now and in the future 2

4 GO MOBILE OR GET LEFT BEHIND The World is Going Mobile. Are You Going With It? If there s one thing you need to take away from this ebook, it s this: Mobile is not a trend. Consider the following: 85 percent of Americans currently own cell phones (up from 65 percent in Sept 2009) 1 72 percent of Americans use their phones to send or receive text messages million American mobile phone subscribers over age 13 use smartphones (60 percent more than a year ago) 2 Time spent on mobile devices has increased nearly 30 percent since 2010, faster than any other medium 3 In Q4 2010, smartphone sales surpassed that of PCs, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) (see graph) 4 3 Mobile devices will claim more and more media time per day, while TV, print and radio will slowly lose ground to digital media. For marketers, half the battle of staying relevant is showing up in the right place and on the right platform. Noah Elkin emarketer principal analyst

5 Mobile is so close to the customer (in her pocket!) that it s pretty powerful if you do it right. It s also dangerous to your brand if you do it wrong Josh Bernoff Marketing News The rate by which people use mobile devices to connect, conduct business and build relationships is growing exponentially. Businesses have long been using mobile marketing technologies to build their consumer brands and generate customer loyalty. Now, they are starting to use these same efforts to build their employment brands. With job seekers increasingly using this technology to search for employment opportunities, research companies and receive job alerts, employers have not just the opportunity, but the need, to embrace this medium and make it part of their overall recruitment strategy. Otherwise, the simple fact is if you don t go mobile, you re going to get left behind. Going mobile, however, isn t about what you have to lose, but about everything you have to gain. The benefits of going mobile are numerous and only continue to grow as technology grows, uncovering more opportunities. In general, the major benefits include the following: Convenience: Smartphones offer all the same speed and capability of a PC, but with almost unlimited accessibility Immediacy: Smartphones enable users to respond and react instantly Turn the page to learn more about the particular benefits of utilizing mobile in your recruitment efforts. 4

6 REAPING THE BENEFITS OF MOBILE For anyone involved in the recruitment process, there are many benefits to using mobile marketing efforts in your recruitment process, but for the sake of brevity, here are the four main ones: BETTER BRANDING When you re mobile, you re already ahead of those employers who aren t. The mobile movement also enables you to broaden your social media recruitment efforts, as more job seekers use their mobile devices to check and update their Facebook or Twitter accounts while on the go. BETTER TARGETING Thanks to geolocation technology, employers and recruiters can target job seekers according to their exact location. No matter where job seekers are, employers and recruiters can locate job seekers anytime and anywhere, automatically connecting with them about real time job opportunities and career events in their area. LOW COST Sending messages is far more cost-effective than advertising via traditional media, like newspapers, magazines or the television. CONSTANT ENGAGEMENT WITH JOB SEEKERS Gone are the days when people had to wait until they were at their home or office computer in order to check , search for information or log in to their social media accounts. Today, the first thing people do when they wake up is grab their phone and check their messages. With a phone always at their side, they ll use it again even after work, up until put the phone down to go to sleep. Mobile users are constantly connected. HIGHER RESPONSE RATES Mobile phone messages appear more personalized, so they enjoy a higher response rate than traditional media advertisements. Not only that, but because job seekers enjoy more privacy on their personal mobile devices, they feel more freedom to respond without fear that colleagues will find out. 5

7 GO MOBILE, GET SOCIAL: MOBILE AS SOCIAL STRATEGY Another not-so-little benefit to using mobile marketing recruitment efforts? Adding mobile marketing efforts only enhances existing social media recruitment efforts. With faster access to the Internet, mobile users are increasingly updating their social media accounts via this medium. 6

8 SO YOU WANNA GO MOBILE: MOBILE RECRUITMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND HOW TO UTILIZE THEM QUICK RESPONSE CODES QR (quick response) codes are barcode-like squares that, when scanned with the camera found on most mobile devices, will reveal a coupon or special offer on a brand s mobile website. Employers and recruiters can create QR codes to drive candidates to their careers website, and include them on anywhere their careers website URL might appear, such as brochures, business cards, presentations, handouts and job postings. (A word of caution: because not everyone has a smart phone that responds to QR codes, employers and recruiters who use QR codes should always provide multiple avenues for the dissemination of information, as well.) TEXT ALERTS Recruitment text alerts (sometimes called Short Message Service, or SMS, alerts) enable employers to alert job seekers to new job vacancies in real time or communicate other recruitment messages, such as information about career events. 7

9 MOBILE-OPTIMIZED WEBSITES With over 300 million Americans using mobile phones and mobile search up 130 percent over the past year it s not only recommended that employers optimize their careers site for easier mobile viewing: it s crucial. Companies that don t optimize their sites miss out on the opportunities to get in front of the millions of job seekers who are conducting job searches and researching companies on the go. Creating an optimized version of your web site should be simple and relatively inexpensive. Keep the content simple and focus on the most important content. For further inspirations, take a cue from Hyatt. The hotels giant has optimized its mobile site to enable potential candidates to search for jobs, view mobile videos from YouTube, link to the company s various social media sites and read up on company information. APPS Companies like AT&T, Raytheon and Deloitte have successfully implemented smartphone apps into their recruitment strategy. Apps are ideal for bigger companies with a steady opening of jobs and enough brand recognition to compel users to download their recruitment apps. Companies of all size, however, can take advantage of apps convenience by partnering with recruitment websites such as CareerBuilder, which offers an app that enables job seekers to get fast, easy access to job postings. (See p. 10 for more information)

10 CALL WAITING: A DISCLAIMER ABOUT MOBILE RECRUITING Mobile is not the be-all-end-all of recruiting; however, much like social media, mobile communication has proven itself as a force to be reckoned with in its ability to reach, resonate with and incite action from mobile users an exponentially increasing percentage of the population. Thus, mobile is a powerful, enriching and increasingly essential supplement to the recruitment process. Remember that, just like any other recruitment strategy, a recruitment strategy that includes mobile marketing efforts should begin with three questions: Who is my target audience? (While the mobile marketing audience tends to be younger, research shows the mobile user audience is growing increasingly mainstream) How does my target audience utilize this medium? (Mobile users tend to use these devices the same way they would use a PC, including browsing the internet, searching for jobs, updating their social media pages, checking s and sending messages.) How will I utilize this medium to connect with this audience? (As stated on pp, mobile recruiting efforts are wide-ranging, from utilizing Apps to creating a mobile-optimized website,to directing job seekers to opportunities with QR codes.) 9

11 LEADING THE MOBILE REVOLUTION As the world s leading provider of talent acquisition services, CareerBuilder understands the importance of keeping up with job seeker trends. Providing mobile solutions since 2008, CareerBuilder is the only company with this amount of tenure connecting job seekers to jobs through the mobile internet. Over the course of 2010, activity on mobile site, mobile.careerbuilder.com which enables candidates to search job postings and receive job alerts via their mobile devices increased nearly 400 percent. Mobile usage now accounts for 3 percent of all page views on CareerBuilder.com a number that only continues to increase. In January 2011, there were over 32 million page views on our mobile site that s 1.3 million page views per day! There s no denying it: Mobile represents an opportunity to connect with job seekers that is unprecedented. And with our mobile offerings, CareerBuilder continues to stay ahead of the curve, offering employers the most up-to-date and innovative recruitment solutions. Turn the page to find out how employers like you are utilizing CareerBuilder s mobile recruitment solutions. 10

12 CAREERBUILDER S MOBILE SOLUTIONS (NOW YOU CAN JUST PHONE IT IN.) In addition to our mobile site, CareerBuilder offers customized solutions that enable employers to take mobile recruiting into their own hands and create the simplest, most powerful recruitment system to date. With CareerBuilder s Mobile Web App and Career Site Development solutions Employers have the option to get a custom app that job seekers can download, integrate their careers site with mobile-friendly features including free mobile web upgrades, as well as Facebook and Twitter integration or both. Both solutions include custom QR codes employers can use to direct job seekers to their careers site from an iphone or Android. With these solutions, employers provide a more effective applicant experience by enabling job seekers to quickly and easily: Upload or create resumes Search jobs by keyword, location or company or mark jobs as favorites and save for later Get recommendations and see application history Sync their accounts and resumes from CareerBuilder.com Visit to learn more about job seeker benefits The power of employee referrals x The reach of mobile Mobile Ambassador Mobile Ambassador is a mobile employee referral program designed to put your openings in the pocket of every employee with an iphone or Android smartphone. How it works: After your employees download the app, they can receive the most up-todate information about open positions at your company. Mobile ambassador enables them to search for and refer friends to relevant jobs. This convenient app also makes it easier than ever to share openings via and text messages. 11

13 ABOUT CAREERBUILDER CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com, is the largest in the United States with more than 22 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 40 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world s top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and data analysis to recruitment support. More than 9,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder s proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. SOURCES Generations and their gadgets, Kathryn Zickuhr, PewInternet.org, February 3, 2011 comscore Reports December 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share, comscore.com, February 7, 2011 The Future of Smart Mobile Devices, emarketer. com, February 10, 2011 Smartphones have conquered PCs, CNN Money, February 9, 2011 New Study Shows the Mobile Web Will Rule by 2015, Jolie O Dell, Mashable.com, April 13, 2010